Oculus VR Raises $16 Million in Funding from Venture Capital Funds

Oculus VR, a developer of the highly anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality platform, on Monday announced that it has closed $16 million in series A funding. The round was co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. With additional money secured, Oculus VR will be able to continue development of its virtual helmet as well as fundamental technologies needed for its production and usage.

“Oculus began with a single mission: to put players inside the game. This investment allows us to deliver immersive and affordable virtual reality to players everywhere,” said Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and inventor of the Oculus Rift.

The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that provides an immersive, stereoscopic 3D experience with a 110° field of view and that overcomes latency challenges. A prototype of the Oculus Rift first appeared at E3 2012, immediately earning praise from the industry. Just one year later, Oculus has manufactured and successfully shipped the Rift development kits purchased in its Kickstarter campaign, allowing game developers across the globe to create Oculus-ready applications and interactive content.

Santo Politi, founder and general partner at Spark, and Antonio Rodriguez, serial entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix, have joined the company’s board of directors. Founders Fund as well as Formation 8 also participated in the round. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of virtual reality hardware, software and services, ultimately creating a full virtual reality platform for consumers.

“With the recent console announcements and the advent of stronger mobile technology, we’re watching the video game industry keenly. In our estimation, Oculus is one of the only companies in the space with something completely new and disruptive. They have the right team, capital and vision to take virtual reality beyond console gaming and into everyday computing,” said Mr. Politi.

“In this business, there are only a few rare companies that can so perfectly embody the future you read about in science fiction novels.What Palmer, Brendan and the team are building at Oculus so closely matches the Metaverse, we had to be part of it. Working with them to get this platform to market at scale will be enormously exciting,” said Mr. Rodriguez.

Oculus VR previously raised over $2.4 million through its Kickstarter campaign – almost 10 times its fundraising goal – and developers are actively supporting the headset. No release date has been set for commercial release.

“What better way to mark our first anniversary than to announce our next phase of growth. There are still many challenging problems to solve, but with the support of these great investment partners, and our passionate community, we will continue to hire the brightest minds and stay laser focused on delivering the very best virtual reality platform possible,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus VR.